Automatically lubricated fan



-Dec. 8, 1931. R. P. EDWARDS ET AL AUTOMATICALLY LUBRICATED FAN Filed May 4, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Wu: 4/ film 1113 A? 1931- R. P. EDWARDS ET AL 1,335,550

AUTOMATICALLY LUBRIGATED FAN Filed May 4, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 8, 1931 ,IUNITED STAT S "P Tan T OFFICE 1 RUSSELL r. nnwnnns, OF ROYAL OAK, AND ERNEST WYSEAHOLM; on BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGANQASSIGNORS TO GENERAL Morons CORPORATION, or nnrnorr, MICHI- GAN', A, CORPORATION OF DELAWARE AUTOMATICALLY LUBRL ATE IAN f Application filed May 4,

A specific object of this invention being clearly indicated in its title, attention may be called to the fact that the principles of the invention are nevertheless believed to be somewhat generally applicable to short shafts revolving in horizontal or like bearings and carried by special brackets or arms. The mentioned shafts maybe supported by hollow arms or the like, therebelow; and vertically inserted or other'supports, ifcarried by or included in said arms, may provide longitudinal lubricant channels or conduits, communicating with said bearings. Said channeled supports, whatever may be their angular relationship to said shafts, and whether rotative or stationary, 'may ordinarily be received in vertical or like passages provided therefor in either one-piece or sectional brackets,said brackets or arms optionally including sections cast with or otherwise carried upon engine crankcases, or the like. v r

Belt-driven engine fans are now common- 1y lubricated by grease, put into the fan bearings by guns; or use may be made of internahgear oil pumps,'to whose circuits oil may be supplied from oil cans. These methods have been found satisfactory only if given proper servicing attention which they do. not alwaysreceive. It is accordingly a purpose of the present" invention to realize a fan-supporting and lubricating design or organization which requires no attention whatsoever, ornone "but an occasional adjustment for fan beltslip,- in case no automatic take-up is provided therefor. Other objects of this invention, which may presuppose any usual or preferred means for feeding oil undera regulated pressure (the returned oil being preferably advanced or permitted to overflow into a crankcase, or the like, in such manner as to lubricate additional moving parts such as sprockets remote from the fan shaft) may be best appreciated, from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of said invention, taken in connection with the appended claims and the accompanying drawings. v Fig. 1 is a general view in the form of a 1929. semi Nb. 360,536.

vertical section, showing a'fan shaft and supporting and moving elements, parts being broken away! This viewjis taken from the'direction indicated by the arrow 1 of Fig. 2 and the line 11 of F ig; 3.

Fig. 2. is a partially elevational and partially sectional view taken substantially as indicated by. the line 22 of Fig. 1 and showing some optional features of modificav do tions.

Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectional detail View, taken substantially as indicated by the line 3-3 of Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a view comparable with apart of Fig. l but showing an alternative form.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken in" a plane such as that suggested by the line 55 of Fig. 4;-

"Fig. 6, corresponding with a part of Fig.

5, shows still another modification in a detail; and Figs. 7 and 8 show optional bushings.

In that embodiment of this invention illustrated in Figs. 13 inclusive, oil should be understood to be advanced past a pressureregulating valve or its equivalent (as, by meansof a pump, not shown,"-either being optionally mounted as at 1, within or upon a crankcase) and through a'tube 2, mother suitable conduit, into a hollow fan-supporting arm A,-shown as comprising a removable bracket section- 3. Within this bracket section, a chamber't may communicate with a gun-drilled hole or other conduit 5 in a cylindrical or otherlongitudinally inserted fan shaft support 6; and oil, passing inwardly and upwardly from the mentioned chamber and through said hole, may be thereby delivered indirectly or directly to the fan shaft 7,preferably in an intermediate 9, into a crankcase, or the like, containing additional moving parts.

Whether or not provision is made for a regular flow of oil to and from this reservoir or its equivalent, the returned oil may be automatically delivered to some moving parts, such as sprockets 10 and/or a chain 10' and means such as a screw or pin or guide 11 may be employed, in cooperation with a slot or keyway 12, not only to assure proper registry of openings such as those shown at 13 and/or 13 for reception of oil from the chamber 4, but also to limit or prevent undesired relative rotation of the support 6, assumed to becylindricai in external form, relatively to a corresponding drilled or other passage 14 in the bracket or bracket section 3.

In the above embodiment, removable bracketsection 3 being shown as secured by bolts or screws15 to a fixed bracket section 16 (assumed to be integral with an engine block or crankcase casting 17) oil is fed through the conduit 2, the "chamber 4 and openings 13 and/or 13 into the gun-drilled or other feed passage 5, to be thereby delivered in an intermediate region for distribution longitudinally of the fan shaft; and means such as an annular groove 18 and latorally extending or spiral grooves 19 may be employed outwardly to direct the o'il,-t0- ward the annular pocket or pockets 8, 8. The oil may be radially diverted by suitably inclined or other passages 20, 20, optionally provided, and or by encounter of annular enlargements upon the shaft 7,such as may be provided by sleeves 21, 21. These are shownas respectively integral with a pulley 22 (driven from a pulley 22'.) and with flanged blade-carrying element 22".; but, as aboveindica'ted, it must .be understood that the principles of this invention are not restricted to the indicated use thereof, in .connection with a-shaft such as the shaft 7, employed to rotate a fan comprising blades 23, or the like.

In the operation of this supporting and lubricating system, it will be seen that the chamber 41, if provided, may remain inconstunt communication with the oil fed passage 5; .and that the chamber 9, if provided in the arm A, may serve incidentally as a trap, and .may remain at all times in communication both with the passage 5, for e cessor returned oil, and with a passage 24, extending through a horizontal neck or part 25 of the bracket section 3 and communicating with a passage 24:, provided in the fixed bracket section 16'; and the latter section may be-interiorly provided with (means such as .a lip 26, adapted to direct returned oil onto the sprocket 10, the sprocket chain 10 or other moving parts. I

- Optional grooves or channels are shown as provided at 27 and 27, extending circumferentially of the longitudinally channeled support 6 and respectively communicating with openings 13 and 13", leading into the gun-drilled passage 5 but it should be understood that these last-mentioned features may be provided primarily or only as an adaptation of the described organization to uses permitting or requiring some relative angular movement of the support 6 within the bracket or bracket section 3; and that when a desired adjustment or rotation "has been effected oris not desired, means such as the mentioned plug 11 or a set screw shown at 28 or a pinch bolt 28", may be employed to limit or prevent undesired subsequent movement.

It will be understood that in case the lubricant is admitted through an opening or open ings such as are shown at 13 and 13, and support 6 is desired to rotate in bracket section 3, the opening or openings 13', if communicating with any channel 27 may serve for a lubricating effect; or that, the opening or openings 13., 13 being omitted, the set screw 28 may be replaced by, or adapted to serve as, aconnection for a lubricant feed conduit.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2, an upper conduit 5, may extend, if provided, sub- 1:

stantially parallel with the shaft 7 and it may be noted that, as suggested by dotted lines 31, 31, Fig. 1, any reduction in atmospheric pressure within the crankcase 17, or

its eouivalent ma aroducea sli ht suction effect, favorable to a circulation of the lubricating oil in the general manner described.

Even though the provision of the gundrilled channel 5 or other considerations may occasion the casting of a projection 32 intei" g-ral with the mentioned bearing elements, the resultant 0pening 33, when not utilized in conducting lubricant to or from the shaft 7, may ordinarily be closed by means such .as a plug 34; and it will be understood that, so far as concerns the useof the described lubricating system in connection with an engine fan shaft, although the suggested cylindrical form of the support .6 is favorable to an initial longitudinal sliding of the same into the bracket section 3, no subsequent relative .ro- .tation of the parts last mentioned is ordinarily intended.

In the forms shown in Figs. 46, inclusive,

it may also be regarded as optional whether or not .an upper bearing element, such as 29a is cast integral with a lower bearing element, .such .as 29d,- but the arm Aa is shown as so cast as to include, with a lower bearing element, parts 6a and .3a,adap.ted to serve some of the essential purposes of both bracket 3 and channeled. support 6, as the latter are included in the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The form in Figs. 4c and 5 will be seen to admit of the use of suitably cut shims, and to require no coring; and there may be but a single channel 55a extending longitudinally of the support 6a and connected with a bored or other passage 80a,with which it may serve as an outlet for used oil. Alternative conduits through which oil may be fed are shown both at 13a and at 13a; a plug may be inserted at 35a and a conduit to other bearings may replace a plug at 36c; and Fig. 5 will be seen to be inconsistent With Fig. 4 only in that inlet openings 13a and 13a are respectively shown, in these figures, as closed by plugs 34a, 3ia,choice between openings 13a and 13a being largely a question of convenience in making connections. These constructions however admit of lubricating from two or more sources (at the same or diiferent temperatures) and/or the advance of used or excess or returned lubricant to two or more destinations. Obviating the necessity for any cutting of grooves in the shaft 19a, these forms are also very favorable to any easy provision of any desired system of intercoinmunicating or other depressions 37a,

= 37?; in either bearing element.

In Figs. 6, as in Figs. 1 and 2, conduits 5' 5b and 5 b are shown as substantially parallel; but it will be understood that both the direction of oil flow and the use of the various connections as suggested at 2, 2a, 2a, 2b and 366 must depend upon spatial relationship, thermal conditions and various other considerations; and also that in case the bearings rotate with the fan channels corresponding to or continuing 5 and 5 may then be provided in the stationary shaft.

For example,'the use of any pressure regulating valve at l and the provision of suggested lubricant channels directly in the shaft or its bearings shouldbe regarded as entirely optional. Any suitable means may be used to assure positive delivery of a small amount of oil; and highly satisfactory results have recently been obtained by the interposition, even between a plain shaft and plainbearings, of a pair of porous bushings 38, 38 of the so-called Durex type (see Figs. 68). These bushings, when used, are preferably pressed longitudinally into place,fin end-to-end relationship within one-piece bearings, only after one or both of said bushings has been milled or otherwise slotted, as at 39, in such manner as locally to admit oil into direct contact with the shaft opposite the end of a channel 5, 5 b, or the like.

Although the foregoing description has included complete details of but a few speciiic embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood not only that various features thereof might be independently employed but that numerous modifications, additional to those suggested herein, might easily be devised,all within the scope of the present invention.

We claim: 7

1. In a lubricating system suitable for an engine fan shaft: a hollow bracket; a support, slidably insertable therein, which provides bearings for said shaft; and means for conducting lubricant through said support to said shaft bearings,said bracket and said support being provided with intercommunicating lubricant conduits.

2. In a lubricating system suitable for an engine fan shaft: a hollow bracket; a support, slidably insertable therein, which provides bearings for said shaft; and means for conducting lubricant through said support to said shaft bearings,said bracket providing a lubricant well into which said sup port extends.

3. In a lubricating system suitable for an engine fan shaft: a hollow bracket; a sup port, slidably insertable therein, which provides bearings for said shaft; and means for conducting lubricant therethrough.

l. In a lubricating system suitable for an engine fan shaft: a hollow bracket; a sup port slidably insertable therein, which pro vides bearings for said shaft; and means for conducting lubricant, through said support and said bracket, both to and from said shaft bearings -said bracket being provided with a pluralty of lubricant chambers respectively communicating with conduits in said support.

5. In a lubricating system suitable for an engine fan shaft: a hollow bracket; a support, slidably insertable therein, which provides bearings for said shaft; and means for conducting lubricant-through said support to said shaft bearings,said support comprising a substantially cylindrical element disposed at an angle to said shaft bearings.

In testimony whereof we afliX our signatures.

RUSSELL P. EDWARDS. ERNEST WV. SEAHOLM. 

